6-spirooxiraneprogesterones



United States Patent Office 3,433,787 6-SPIRO0XIRANEPROGESTERONES James F. Kerwin, Broomal], Pa., assignor to Smith Kline 8: French Laboratories, Philadelphia,"Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania No Drawing-Filed Oct. 21,1966, Ser. No. 588,336 US. Cl. 260-23955 Int. Cl. C07c 173/00, 169/34 This invention relates to new steroid compounds having at the6-position thereof a spirooxirane ring. In particular, the invention relates to o-spirooxiraneprogesterones having prog'estational and antiandrogenic activities.

The compounds of the invention are represented by the following structural formula;

where R is hydrogen, hydroxy, or lower alkanoyloxy; or a A derivative thereof.

The term lower alkanoyloxy is intended to refer to those alkanoyloxy groups having up to about 8 carbon atoms therein, particularly formyloxy, acetoxy, propionyloxy, butyryloxy, valeryloxy, and caproyloxy.

The compounds of the invention are prepared by epoxidizing the corresponding known G-methylene steroid with a reagent such as m-chloro'perbenzoic acid. When using the preferred mode of preparation, the steroid and an excess of the peracid are allowed to react in a solvent such as methylene chloride or chloroform for two to four days. The reaction is conducted at room temperature or in the refrigerator. The mixture is then washed with weak base and the product purified by chromatography over alumina. Other peracids such as perphthalic and chloroperbenzoic acids may also be used for the epoxidation.

When a l7a-lower alkanoyloxy product is desired, the starting material should possess such a substituent. The l7a-hydroxy product is obtained by saponification of a l7a-alkanoyloxy compound with weak base. The A compounds are prepared by dehydrogenation of the appropriate 1,2-saturated compound with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanobenzoquinone.

The compounds of the invention, being progestational agents, are useful in those instances where an increased progestational effect is required, such as threatened or habitual abortion, infertility, secondary amenorrhea, and functional uterine bleeding. They are formulated for oral use into tablets by combination with standard pharmaceutical excipients in the conventional manner. A tablet may contain 2.5-25 mg. The principal compound of the invention, 17a-acetoxy-6-spirooxiraneprogesterone, has been found to possess progestational activity greater than that of progesterone at oral doses" of 2-5 mg./kg. in rabbits. This compound also shows anti-androgenic activity in rats at subcutaneous doses of 100 mg./kg.

In Formula I and throughout this disclosure, the 6- spirooxirane ring is considered to be so disposed that the methylene group of the ring has the B-configuration and the oxygen atom has the tat-configuration. This disposition of the oxirane is believed correct, but it is to be understood that the invention consists of the compounds which 8 Claims 3,433,787 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 are actually obtained by the disclosedp ocedures, whatever the configuration of the spirooxirane ring.

The following examples are intended to illustrate the preparation of the compounds of the invention, butare not to be construed as limiting thescopethereof.

EXAMPLE 1 17a-acetoxy-6-spirooxiraneprogesterone A solution of 15.0 g. (0.039 mole) of l7a-acetoxy-6- methylene progesterone, 24.1 g. (0.1-2 mole) of mchloroperbenzoic acid and 400 ml. of methylene chloride is placed in a refrigerator for 72 hours. Completion of the reaction is evidenced by the disappearance of the 6- methylene starting material when the mixture is subjected to thin layer chromatography (1:1 cyclohexane-ethyl acetate on SiO The suspension is extracted with NaHCO solution and then water, dried and evaporated to a syrup. The syrup is dissolved in the minimum amount of benzene and added to a column packed with 600 g. of Woelm (Act. III) alumina. Elution with benzene and increasing concentrations of methylene chloride gives the title product. Crystallization from methanol gives the pure product, M.'P. 26927l A 240 m (e=16,100)

[u =+104.6 (c.==0.65 in CHCI EXAMPLE 2 17ot-hydroxy-6-spirooxiraneprogesterone A solution of 2.0 g. of the acetate of Example 1 in ml. of methanol is heated to reflux and a solution of 0.64 g. of KOH in 20 ml. of water is added over a 30 minute period. After refluxing for 2 hours, the solution is cooled, poured in 10 volumes of water, and the mixture extracted with methylene chloride. The organic extracts are dried and evaporated to give the title product.

. EXAMPLE 3 17a-acetoxy-fi-spirooxiranepregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione A solution of 1.98 g. of the acetate of Example 1 and 1.5 g. of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanobenzoquinone in 50 ml. of dioxane is refluxed for ca. 18 hours. The solution is filtered, the filtrate evaporated to dryness, and the residue taken up in ethyl acetate. The solution is washed with cvivater and then dried and evaporated to give the title iene.

Saponification with base as described in Example 2 gives the l7a-hydroxy diene.

EXAMPLE 4 When the epoxidation reaction of Example 1 is applied to the equivalent quantities of the following 6- methylene starting materials, the corresponding listed products are obtained.

EXAMPLE 5 When the dehydrogenation reaction of Example 3 is applied to equivalent quantities of the products of Example 4, the following products are obtained:

I claim: 1. A compound of the formula or a A derivative thereof, where R is hydrogen, hydroxy, or lower alkanoyloxy of 1-8 carbon atoms.

2. A compound as claimed in claim 1, where the 1,2- bond is saturated.

3. A compound as claimed in claim 2, where R is acetoxy, being the compound l7a-acetoxy-6-spirooxiraneprogesterone.

4. A compound as claimed in claim 2, where R is propionyloxy, being the compound 17a-pr0pionyloxy-6-spiroox iraneprogesterone.

5. A compound as claimed in claim 2, where R is hydroxy, being the compound 17ot-hydroxy-6-spirooxiraneprogesterone.

6. A compound as claimed in claim 2, where R is hydrogen, being the compound 6-spirooxiraneprogesterone.

7. A compound as claimed in claim 1, having a A double bond.

8. A compound as claimed in claim 7, Where R is acetoxy, being the compound 17a-acetoxy-6-spirooxiranepregna-l,4-diene-3, 20-dione.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1967 Kerwin. 6/1967 Bowers et al.

HENRY A. FRENCH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A COMPOUND OF THE FORMULA 